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What Is Vitamin D?
Vitamin D is a nutrient you need for good health. It helps your body absorb calcium, one of the main building blocks for strong bones. Together with calcium, vitamin D helps protect you from developing osteoporosis, a disease that thins and weakens the bones and makes them more likely to break.
What is Vitamin D Deficiency (VDD)?
Having too little vitamin D in the body leads to Vitamin D Deficiency. A deficiency in vitamin D can result from inadequate exposure to sunlight, inefficient production in the skin, not enough vitamin D in your diet, and health conditions that can affect it including, gastrointestinal disorders, renal diseases, and liver diseases.
Though Vitamin D deficiency (VDD) is quite common in general population, the truth is most people are unaware about their status. The benefits of Vitamin D are mostly known for its skeletal effects, however, there are recent mounting evidence of non-skeletal effects of this sunshine vitamin.
What are the symptoms of Vitamin D?
Most common VDD symptoms are
How much Vitamin D do we need?
Experts recommend at least 600 IU of Vitamin D intake as a daily requirement for adults who are not Vitamin D deficient. Moreover, skin can produce vitamin D by getting 5 to 10 minutes of sun exposure 2 to 3 times a week.
What are the Dietary Sources of Vitamin D?
Dietary sources such as salmon, sardines, dairy products, mushrooms, egg Yolks and Vitamin D fortified foods are rich sources of this vitamin.
If these measures are insufficient to maintain optimum serum levels, Vitamin D supplements may be the answer. However, being a fat-soluble vitamin, unsupervised intake of Vitamin D can cause toxic effects if doses above recommendation is consumed.
Author:
Sindhu Susan Mathew, MSN, CPHQ
Clinical Education Manager,
Al- Futtaim Health, United Arab Emirates
Vitamin D is a nutrient you need for good health. It helps your body absorb calcium, one of the main building blocks for strong bones. Together with calcium, vitamin D helps protect you from developing osteoporosis, a disease that thins and weakens the bones and makes them more likely to break.
What is Vitamin D Deficiency (VDD)?
Having too little vitamin D in the body leads to Vitamin D Deficiency. A deficiency in vitamin D can result from inadequate exposure to sunlight, inefficient production in the skin, not enough vitamin D in your diet, and health conditions that can affect it including, gastrointestinal disorders, renal diseases, and liver diseases.
Though Vitamin D deficiency (VDD) is quite common in general population, the truth is most people are unaware about their status. The benefits of Vitamin D are mostly known for its skeletal effects, however, there are recent mounting evidence of non-skeletal effects of this sunshine vitamin.
What are the symptoms of Vitamin D?
Most common VDD symptoms are
- Fatigue
- Bone and back pain
- Mood changes
- Hair fall
- Type 1 diabetes
- Hypertension
- Cancers
- Respiratory infections
- Inflammatory disorders.
How much Vitamin D do we need?
Experts recommend at least 600 IU of Vitamin D intake as a daily requirement for adults who are not Vitamin D deficient. Moreover, skin can produce vitamin D by getting 5 to 10 minutes of sun exposure 2 to 3 times a week.
What are the Dietary Sources of Vitamin D?
Dietary sources such as salmon, sardines, dairy products, mushrooms, egg Yolks and Vitamin D fortified foods are rich sources of this vitamin.
If these measures are insufficient to maintain optimum serum levels, Vitamin D supplements may be the answer. However, being a fat-soluble vitamin, unsupervised intake of Vitamin D can cause toxic effects if doses above recommendation is consumed.
Author:
Sindhu Susan Mathew, MSN, CPHQ
Clinical Education Manager,
Al- Futtaim Health, United Arab Emirates
